…to pay $750,000 in court cost
Assistant Police Commissioner (ACP) Calvin Brutus and his wife Adonika Aulder has been ordered by the High Court to pay $750,000 in total to several respondents after discontinuing yet another High Court action, which they filed on the August 19, 2024 against the Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General (AG).
In these proceedings, Brutus and his wife sought a number of Orders, including, an Order to recall the Order of Court, earlier granted, freezing their bank accounts.
The application to withdraw this particular proceeding was made orally when the matter was called on Friday by the attorney appearing for the ACP and his wife.
Another High Court proceeding which was filed seeking permission for the claimants to leave the jurisdiction, allegedly for medical attention for Aulder was also dismissed.
The application brought before Justice Gino Persaud and after hearing arguments from lawyers appearing for the AG’s Chambers, Brutus and his wife were ordered to pay $250,000 each to the respondents, namely, the AG, Commissioner of Police and SOCU within six weeks from the date of the Order.
According to a release issued by the AG’s Chambers, “these costs have not been paid and upon the expiration of the six weeks, if these costs remain unpaid, the requisite legal steps will be taken to recover the same”.
Brutus is represented by attorneys Earl Daniels, Yuborn Alicock, and Dominic Bess and this is the second set of proceedings filed and later withdrawn by the ACP and his wife, whose facing several charges related to fraud and money laundering in the Magistrates’ court.
The first High Court application was filed in October, in which Brutus claimed victimisation among other things.
Brutus
SOCU has said that on January 11, 2024, Brutus allegedly instructed a Superintendent of Police to prepare and issue two cheques valued at $6.4 million and $7.4 million from the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) Central Welfare Fund to purchase goods that were never supplied.
Further, on January 31, 2024, he instructed the GPF’s Finance Officer to submit 221 payment vouchers to him to procure goods from his wife’s business, but these vouchers were never returned.
Again, on November 16, 2023, the Finance Officer was instructed by the ACP to prepare a cheque to the tune of $20 million to purchase police regulation shoes for the Quartermasters stores, but those were never supplied.
In addition, several other charges related to purchase of lands were read to Brutus. Although SOCU had filed in excess of 200 charges against this serving member of the GPF, only 30 were dealt with on Thursday.
In light of these charges, Brutus was placed on bail at the sum of $6.2 million for two counts of money laundering charges, two counts of larceny by a public officer, and two counts relating to obtaining money by false pretence.
Bail was posted hours after the court hearing, and he will return to court on November 18, 2024, to face the remaining charges.
Other charges
The ACP’s wife, was slapped with two counts of money laundering, and was granted $1 million bail. SOCU alleged that during December 2023, Aulder withdrew the sums of $243 million and $180 million from two separate Republic Bank accounts registered to her businesses, and these sums allegedly were derived directly or indirectly from the proceeds of crime.
Further, Brutus and Sergeant Kevin George have jointly been charged for allegedly withdrawing $22 million from the GPF’s procurement office on January 9, 2024.
It was revealed that George never made himself available for questioning, but his lawyers did indicate that SOCU seized the defendant’s vehicle containing his passport and Identification Card, among other documents.
In addition, businessman Asif Zafarally and Brutus have jointly been charged for allegedly withdrawing $71 million from the GPF’s Consumer Cooperative Society for goods that were never supplied.
Sergeant George and Zafarally have each been placed on $500,000 bail, and have been instructed to report to Superintendent Mahadeo Singh every second Friday of the month until the determination of their matters.
Investigation
The investigation began in July 2024, when Brutus was placed on administrative leave after suspicion arose regarding financial irregularities. Initially linked to the Police Force’s Credit Union, the investigation quickly expanded following information provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The assets of ACP Calvin Brutus include $300 million in properties and $500 million across joint bank accounts with his wife. As a result, all of these accounts have been frozen, except his salary account.
As part of the case, it has been revealed that Brutus received monetary gifts from two individuals. These gifts included US$10,000 as a wedding present and $1,000,000 as a Christmas gift in 2023.
After the completion of the investigations, SOCU had approached the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the way forward. The DPP gave SOCU the green light to move. (G1)
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